Apple again said to be in talks with labels over ‘iRadio’ service

itunes music

It’s 2013 now, meaning we could be seeing Apple’s rumored Pandora-like streaming music service popup anytime now. The last we heard, the Cupertino company was having trouble getting record labels on board. But according to a new report, the negotiations are back on and rolling at full speed…

Investors Business Daily (via MacRumors) reports:

“Apple (AAPL) is likely to launch an Internet radio service this year because music consumption habits are changing, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said Thursday…

…”We expect iRadio to be incorporated into the iTunes iOS app with personalized radio functionality akin to Pandora, integrated with iTunes to purchase music and other music related content such as concert information/tickets/merchandise via Live Nation (LYV) and Ticketmaster.”

Apple is negotiating with music labels to get access to song catalogs, he said.”

Now, I’m not too keen on just believing everything analysts say. You can never tell if they actually know something for a fact, or are just saying things to move the numbers. But I have to admit, Greenfield’s concept of how a streaming radio service could be integrated into iTunes is fairly intriguing.

Think about it. If I like a song in Pandora, I can buy it on iTunes with a few taps. So why wouldn’t Apple create its own service that one, would drive more business to its iTunes Store, and two, generate its own revenue via iAds? And there’s other opportunities here, such as Ticketmaster integration.

Of course, the real takeaway here is that it sounds like there’s at least some truth to this whole “iRadio” thing. There’s way too much smoke at this point for there not to be some kind of fire. And I for one hope we see something sooner, rather than later. I’ve been wanting Apple to do this for a long time.

How about you?